Blinded Angels and a Burnt Beginning
by GlassPrinceRiku
Summary: Prequel Fic Roxas, as a child was blinded. Now he trusts no one. But what about Axel? And the amazing scent of Burnt Marshmallows?


A/N: Oh wow, it seems like I finish these fanfics really fast, you know? Like I have a new one up like every three days. Wow. I guess that they are only one-shots, but still. Mmph. So I guess I'm starting another one. Yes, yes, I am. K, k, k… I think this one should be an Akuroku. Again. Sorry, I just love Roxas, he's a sulky little brat who needs a friend and who's a better friend than Axel? Anyway, I think I should end this author's note and get on with the story. Yeah. Moving on…

I think I'll make this one a prequel of sorts. If you haven't read my other one, that's okay too, but if you want to know where this is leading, read _"Can't You See?" _alright? So I guess this might not have as much fluffiness as the other one. I guess. I don't know yet. Heh. Anyway…

Disclaimer: Why would I put this in here? You know as well as I do that I don't own Kingdom Hearts. So why do I have to? You know what? I won't. I DO own Kingdom Hearts. (is sued by tetsuya nomura) fiiiine… I don't own it…

**Blinded Angels and a Burnt Beginning**

Roxas Hikari was the youngest of three brothers. He was smaller, blonder, and overall sharper than the other two. This boy was a small, angry force, his tanned face seemingly frozen in a perpetual scowl. He had wide blue eyes and a certain angry pout on his pink lips. Roxas was always told he was an angel, incredibly beautiful, but Roxas simply frowned at the speaker whenever he was told so. Roxas would never see his "angelic" features. Roxas Hikari was blind.

As a child, the blonde boy could see. He saw everything, just as all the other children did. He played on the jungle gym; he sat in the sandbox with all the other little children his age. He looked after his dorky older twin, Sora, and caused trouble for his eldest brother, Cloud. At five years old, something went wrong.

Roxas Hikari wasn't in danger, they said, Roxas was smart, he wouldn't go and do something mischievous. He wouldn't ever, _ever,_ go and see what the older kids were doing around the corner. He was safe at home, playing with Sora in the backyard. Roxas wasn't wandering down the street by himself, wasn't peeking around the side of his neighbor's house, and definitely wasn't trying to play with the older children and the black box. That black box. That amazing box that those three children were giggling at, prodding at with a long, black wire, the end frayed and thin, copper wires poking out.

And Roxas _definitely_ wouldn't be the child who asked innocently what they were doing and try to join when they started to try to open the black box.

But somehow, although he would _never_ do any of these things, Roxas was hurt when the black box did, indeed, open, with a spray of acid aimed at his face. The curious black box with the two "knobby things," as the children called them, had exploded, a small explosion, but an explosion, nonetheless.

The ambulance was called, a small blonde boy was lying alone, unconscious, in the neighbor's yard, his face badly burned.

At five years old, Roxas Hikari was abandoned by three children, and was blinded by a stolen car battery. His flesh healed, his eyes did not. He was a sightless angel, and he never again wanted to trust a stranger.

"Why are you looking at me like that, kid?"

"What?" Roxas turned his head blankly at the harsh voice that reprimanded him, "What do you mean?"

"You keep looking at me funny, kid. What's your problem?"

"I'm sorry," Roxas stated. Apologizing was easier than explaining.

"Don't apologize to him, Roxas!!" Sora's small voice was beside him, angry, "You didn't do anything wrong! You know that!"

"Sora, stop…"

"Kid, what are you―"

"You jerk!! My brother is blind, can't you tell?!" Sora stormed up to the offender angrily, and Roxas blushed.

"Sora, stop, it's fine. I don't care."

"You shouldn't have to apologize for something that you―"

Roxas bristled at the voices around him. He hated this, he couldn't defend himself, he was vulnerable, he _hated_ this. He froze, breathing deeply, "Just stop…" His voice was a mere whisper, and he felt a strong hand curl around his own, "Who are you?"

"It's Cloud, Rox. You okay? Sora, Rox and I are going home." Cloud was fourteen, and quite possibly the only person in the world who could keep Roxas sane through the ordeal. After all, Sora and Roxas were only seven years old at the time.

The blonde boy allowed himself to be led down the street, feeling the hot stinging tears in his useless eyes. He didn't want to be worthless like this.

"Roxas, I want you to listen to me, okay?"

He nodded at his elder brother's gentle voice.

"Roxas, I know that this sucks. I can't tell you that it doesn't, because I know it does, for everyone, okay? I'm not going to lie to you. But, Rox, you aren't a useless little kid, you know that? I know that's what you're thinking; I can see it on your face. I want you to use your other senses, okay? Right now, tell me what you smell. What you hear, what you feel. Tell me everything, okay?" Cloud squeezed his brother's small hand and Roxas dropped his head.

"I… I smell… grass. I hear…" He paused to listen closely, "I hear wind… and a car somewhere. I feel… Your hand is rough. And… the wind." He waited patiently for his brother to speak, surprised when he felt Cloud's arms wrap around his small body.

"Listen, Rox, I don't know if this'll work, but I've heard of it, okay? If you just use the rest of your senses, don't be mad at your eyes, just train what you have to be better. Can you do that for me? When you want to know what's going on, use your nose, or your ears, don't rely on what doesn't work. Can you try that?"

The blonde nodded his head, "Okay… Cloud…?"

"What?"

"What do you see?"

His brother ran a hand through the young boy's blonde hair, and began to walk again, "I see… mostly green. A lot of grass and trees. Our neighbors' houses. Our house. The sky is cloudy today. No sun. Listen. What do you hear?"

He was silent for a moment, then, "Thunder. I think."

"Good. Roxas, I want this to work for you, okay? This is going to work for you." Cloud stopped walking for a moment, and Roxas tugged on his hand.

"What is it, Cloud?"

"We have a new neighbor, I think. A little redheaded boy. He looks about…eight or nine. Maybe. Want to go say hi?"

Roxas didn't respond, but was pulled over anyway.

"Hi, I'm Cloud Hikari. This is my brother, Roxas. Are you new here?"

Roxas could feel the stares on him and he blushed and slowly edged behind Cloud.

"Yes, we are. It's nice of you to come by," It was a woman's voice, soft and pleasant; "This is my son, Axel."

"Why are you hiding?"

It was a brash, tone, not rude, simply curious and unafraid.

Roxas was silent.

"Hey, you."

The blonde felt a hand brush against his shoulder, causing him to flinch and grab Cloud's leg.

"Relax; I wasn't going to hurt you. Why won't you look at me?"

Cloud rested a hand on Roxas's spiked blonde locks, "Roxas?"

"Honey, I think he's just shy, why don't you―"

"Because I'm blind," he interrupted. He brought his head up to Axel's mother, and then to where he assumed Axel was, "I can't see you, that's why I'm not looking at you."

"Oh." Axel leaned in closer to look, and Roxas caught the acrid scent of fire and burnt marshmallows on him, "Well, that's okay. Then you don't have to look at me. But why are you hiding? I'm not going to hurt you or anything."

Roxas released Cloud's pant leg and held a hand out to touch Axel's hair, "You smell burnt. I thought maybe you had no hair."

Axel laughed and grabbed Roxas's hand, "Come on, let's go play in my backyard. I've got a swing set!"

The blonde boy tugged at Cloud's pants, "Can I?" He could sense the hesitation in his brother, but smiled when he heard the sigh.

"If it's alright with Axel's mom."

"It's okay with me, as long as you think that it's safe, Cloud."

Axel giggled and pulled Roxas carefully to the back of his house, "It's okay, there's just grass all over here. There aren't any rocks or anything to get hurt on." He cautiously led the boy to the swing set and eventually to a swing, "Do you want to swing? I can push you."

Roxas shook his head, "I can't see where I'm going."

"It's okay; I won't push you too high."

Still he shuddered, "I don't want to."

"…okay. What do you want to play?"

Roxas hesitated, he always played with Sora, but Sora knew how to play his games. "Can we… can we play Marco Polo…?"

Axel released his hand, "Okay, let's play Marco Polo!!"

Roxas spent the afternoon with this boy, this burnt marshmallow boy. Axel was unafraid of Roxas; he enjoyed asking the other how everything worked and what happened. And with him, Roxas didn't mind answering. Axel didn't make fun of him, nor did he comment on what happened. His response was always "oh," and then he would move on. Axel was different. Roxas loved playing with this boy.

"Hey, Axel…?'

"What?"

"Can you… push me on the swing?"

"Yeah!!" Excited, the boy hurried to pull Roxas to the cold metal swing set. When Roxas sat down, Axel laughed happily, "Say when you're ready!"

"O-okay…" he said hesitantly, holding on for dear life. He felt a gentle push on his back and he whimpered when the wind blew softly past his ears.

"Don't worry; just hold on, you won't go too high, okay?" Axel pushed again, giggling.

Roxas took a deep breath and realized the air rushing past him. He could feel cool wind, and he let his sandals fall to the ground and allowed himself to laugh when the velvety grass tickled his bare feet.

"See? It's fun!" Axel laughed too, his childish voice happy behind Roxas.

Roxas smiled, the sun was shining now, wasn't it? He could feel it on his skin; he could hear the air glide past his ears and Axel's laughter. Roxas could smell the coming rain and the burnt marshmallow scent of Axel. He smiled and laughed contentedly, he knew what was going on. He could figure everything out without his eyes.

"Having fun, Roxas?" It was Cloud's voice, equally joyful at the sound of his brother's voice.

Roxas giggled, as did Axel. Axel's mother laughed as well, and Axel sat down in the soft grass.

"You're fun, Roxas, even if you can't see."

Roxas smiled as he came to a stop, "Heh. And you're fun too, Axel, even if you _can_ see." Childishly, clumsily, Roxas leapt off of the swing to where he heard Axel's laughter and hugged him gleefully, "We have to play again, okay, Axel? Even though you smell like burnt marshmallows."

"Yeah, Roxas, we will. Even if you do have bad aim with hugs."

Roxas squeezed the other boy tight and heard Axel's mother and Cloud laugh, "Well, I trust you, okay, Axel? So you're my new best friend."

"Your only best friend?"

"My only best friend," He confirmed joyfully.

Axel chuckled, "Yeah, Roxas. And you're my new best friend too. So we'll be best friends forever, got it memorized?" He hugged the boy as well, smiling into the blonde hair.

"Yeah, Axel. We will."

A/N: Hah! Oh wow, I really liked writing this. Axel and Roxas as children made me so happy; I love it when they turn out that cute! I might pull all of this together and make an Akuroku fanfic, but for now, I might just keep writing little one-shots like this. So I guess if you want to read the continuation of this, read _"Can't You See?"_ I might also keep doing that, too. I might make another fanfic, like a sequel to _"Can't You See?"_ I think that would be fun. And Roxas makes an awesome blind kid. (and you would not even begin to believe how long it took me to think of a game that a blind boy could play. Marco Polo was the best I could come up with.) Anyway, drop a review, if you could. Tell me what you think, and if you think I should do a sequel to this or _"Can't You See?"_

Much Loves and Huggles from—the Prince


End file.
